Social Aspects of Modern Board Games in the Context of Contemporary Psychology

The rigorous thesis builds upon the previous master's thesis Social Aspects of Modern Board Games, defended in 2018. Thematically, it focuses on the analysis of the interaction process within a small board game group and modern board games in the context of contemporary psychology. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a research part. The theoretical part addresses key concepts related to the topic, such as game theory, the development and definition of board games, and especially the specifics of modern board games, including a description of the game Dead of Winter, which was part of the original research design. The theoretical section also introduces F. Bales's method for analyzing interaction processes, the role typology of Benne and Sheats, and E. Berne's concept of communication games. The research part builds on the evaluation of the original master's thesis research and proceeds with a follow-up analysis. The findings of the multiple case study involving three board game groups reflect the primary task-oriented focus of the groups and, in particular, a natural tendency to form group hierarchies and a rich social dynamic. This includes group roles that can be typologized and that, to a certain extent, exhibit generalizability across different groups. The emergence of conflict...